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Tamagotchis to make a 2014 comeback, dot matrix LCD 'n' all

No sooner had I bought a pair of 90s Tamagotchis from eBay, Bandai has announced it's bringing the digital keychain pets back to market.

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The new models will launch in 2014 under the brand Tamagotchi Friends. Like the 90s classics, the key product is an egg-shaped gadget with a dot matrix screen, three buttons to interact with your adopted critter and two lines of activities lacing the top and bottom of the display.

Will I be cleaning up her downloads? Will she contract a disease and die if I don't?KeepInline

It'll be interesting to see how much of the original games' mechanics have filtered through to 2014. For example, pets back in the day could (and would) die, which resulted in news reports about sad children. You might also wake up one morning to discover your Tamagotchi had spent its waking moments producing vast quantities of dung -- something that may clash with the cute aesthetic of Kiraritchi, the cute Tamagotchi Friends character who aspires to be a pop star.

Will I be cleaning up her "downloads"? Will she contract a disease and die if I don't? She would have with the originals, but that might stop parents spending money with the brand if they see their kids upset at the sight of a dead pop idol.

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Bandai will coincidentally launch other media under the Tamagotchi Friends brand, including an animated web-based TV series that is already live.

In Japan the Tamagotchi brand is still strong within female demographics, and it's girls Bandai is evidently targeting with this revival. Director of Girls Marketing for Bandai America, Georgia Manolas-Lopez describes, the new range as "part fashion, part friendship, part community and all fun". Tamagotchi toys have sold almost 80 million according to some reports, and a revival in 2004 saw Bandai shift a million units in Japan during the first five months of its on-sale date.

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Although the brand is strong, many original Tamagotchi owners may be in their late-twenties or thirties now (all of Wired.co.uk included). For newbies to the concept, a keychain-based dot matrix pet may look more like a relic from an era they never experienced, standing out as low-tech and bizarre aside colourful 3D smartphone virtual pets with their micropayments and obsession with collecting coins.